Devotionals, December Christmas Season
December 15th, 2020
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God- John 1:1
As we start the third week of December, we will be doing meditations about the wonder of Christmas. “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”- John 1:14. So, the dates of December 15th-25th every year will be dedicated to remembering the birth of our Lord Jesus here. For this year, we will title this Christmas season’s meditations: “Hail The Incarnate Deity” Taken from the hymn “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!” The second verse goes like this:
Christ, by highest heav’n adored, Christ, the everlasting Lord: Late in time behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin’s womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail th’ incarnate Deity! Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel.
Apostle John presents somewhat a genealogy that is different from what Matthew and Luke present when it comes to Christ’s origins. Matthew and Luke focus on His humanity, as they look at the family tree that Jesus was born into; while John is focusing on His divinity. He starts by declaring His eternal existence. He also introduces a rather interesting concept “The Word.” Think about all the other things he could have used. For example, he could have said “God the Son ” existed from the beginning and was with the Father. After all, many of the claims of Jesus Christ centered around the fact that He was the “Son of God.” One of the highlights in the Gospels is when Peter points out His identity that way “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”- Matthew 16:16. Even though this would have been true, it is not what the Holy Spirit led John to write.
“In the beginning was the Word.” He existed from eternity. “He existed before anything was created.”- Colossians 1:15, NLT. He is the Alpha. He starts everything. Creation is His work. “In Him all things were crated.”- Colossians 1:16 and “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”- John 1:3, remind us that all creation, in all its majesty, from the galaxies with their stars and planets, the roaring oceans, the mountains, and the complex human body, soul, and spirit were all created in Him and through Him. He is eternal. There’s no question that time is one of the greatest inventions of all. I always marvel at time. You can’t stop it, you can only redeem it. You cannot manufacture and sell it. You cannot go back in time. You can only use the days that were given to you to the best of your ability. Christ as the Alpha, standing in the beginning, reassures us that the mystery of time is in His hands. All of history and its exhilarating stories belongs to Him. He saw it, He knew it, He orchestrated it. We get the privilege to celebrate that on Christmas.
He is the “Word.” In Greek, it is Logos. “His name is called the Word of God.”- Revelation 19:13, John writes in the book of Revelation. Often the passage of personified Wisdom of Proverbs 8:22-36 is interpreted as the mystery of the eternal Word. After all, “In Him are hidden all the treasures of Wisdom.”-Colossians 2:3. He is the eternal Word of wisdom. Logos may be translated as “reason, thought, speech, expression.” He is the way God expresses Himself. “He is the image of the invisible God.”- Colossians 1:15. “The exact representation of His being.”- Hebrews 1:3.
“The Word was with God and the Word was God.” When Moses starts the book of Genesis, he writes “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”- Genesis 1:1. The way John starts his Gospel is reminiscent of that. The Word was with God and the Word was God, creating all of those things in the beginning. “And God said, ‘let there be light,’ and there was light”- Genesis 1:3. He is the Word of God in those words of creation. The co-existence of the Father and the Son was one of delight and harmony. They had perfect unity. In Proverbs 8:30 we read: “I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence.” No wonder that the first place they created for humanity to dwell on earth was “Eden,” which means “delight” or “pleasure.” Whenever we are so full of God’s presence and sense that delight and pleasure in His presence, we know He is there. Wherever strife originates, we can sense that God’s presence and light are not there. Though God is “a man of war”- Exodus 15:3, that’s His response to rebellion. In the beginning, there was no rebellion. In the end, there will be no rebellion. Strife is not in His presence. Neither is His presence where you find oppression. Those things are not delightful. The Word was with God and they dwelt in eternal delight.
Prayer: Father God, I thank you that you loved the world so much that you gave us your only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. I am amazed by such a gift we did not deserve. This Christmas season, I pray that you open my eyes to see the mystery of the incarnation of Christ in a deeper way so that I can be more and more thankful of this gift you have given to us and live my life as a delightful gift to you. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen !
December 16th, 2020
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth- John 1:14
In the Nicene Creed that is held by both Catholics and Protestants, there’s this statement of faith on the Holy Spirit that I love: “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son He is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets.” It has often intrigued me how it was always easy to make this confession in congregational worship and yet in “real life” it would seem many Christians did not actually practice worshipping the Holy Spirit. It is only recently that this seems to have changed. In the same way, it seems this applies to the Word of God as God Himself. Do you hear people say “we worship you, O eternal Word of God?” There might be some who do so, but it is not something we commonly see. Though, of course, we could say we worship you, Jesus, and it is the same person we would be addressing, it is good to note that difference. John did not start his Gospel by naming the Word, Jesus; or any other name or title. This was a mystery that had become a reality to him and he felt comfortable to do so. That may explain why some Christians have difficulty worshipping the Holy Spirit. He remains a mystery that has not yet become reality to them and therefore they have trouble worshipping Him.
We worship you, O Eternal Word of God!
As we continue our “Hail The Incarnate Deity” theme for this Christmas season, we have John 1:14 today. In this we read that the “Word became flesh.” In this phrase, John summarizes the entire virgin conception, birth, and human life of Jesus Christ. For it was the Word becoming flesh when Mary got pregnant by the Holy Spirit and power of the Almighty. The Word had become flesh when Mary went to visit Elizabeth and John the Baptist who was still in the womb could not stay still. We read: “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.”- Luke 1:41. Sure, the flesh might have been a fetus at that time, it was flesh, nonetheless. It was the Word becoming flesh when Mary delivered the child in an animal stable. With all the stinking, terrible odor, that we could imagine might have been there. I used to go to cows stables at my Grandpa’s farm as a kid and they weren’t the best smelling places in the world. The Word became flesh in a place like that, coming from the womb to the world. By the time Jesus called John to be one of His 12 disciples, the flesh had grown up into an adult, though he had never known “the works of the flesh.”- Galatians 5: 19. He was fully human and yet He did not sin. Jesus tells us that this is one of His qualifications to judge us on the last day (John 5:27). Because He trod where we tread, He dealt with the issues we deal with, and was tempted in the same way we get tempted. He is the Son of Man. Our perfect and sinless Savior lived a human life and experienced several aspects of humanity that we are all familiar with.
“Made His dwelling among us.” The Greek Word here is “Eskenosen” and it means to set up a camp or tabernacle. John probably used it to allude to the tabernacle of divine Shekinah in the wilderness that Moses had set up in accordance with God’s instructions. Christ tabernacled among us, carrying the divine glory and presence. The One “in whom are hidden all the treasures of Wisdom and knowledge”- Colossians 2:3. The One who “upholds all things by the power of His Word”- Hebrews 1:3, walked among men and they could see, hear, and touch with their hands (1 John 1:1). What a message! What a story of hope and joy He is ! What had He come to do here? It is a common observation that when a dignitary is expected to arrive at a location, say a president, prime minister, or attorney general, the people or institution those leaders are visiting are under maximum pressure to prepare very well. Things that need to be cleaned up are cleaned, the speeches are practiced and polished, decorum and protocol are a sight to behold. Now the Lord of the universe had come to the earth He had created. Was Israel ready? Are we prepared? Let every heart prepare Him room!
“We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only son.” They saw His glory indeed. When Peter asked Jesus if he could build a tabernacle for Him, Moses, and Elijah, he had seen His glory. He even mentions that event again in 2 Peter 1:18: “We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain,” he reminds us. But for 3.5 years, they saw a whole lot more than that. They saw Him turn water to wine and that first miracle is what John calls the first in which He showed them His glory (John 2:11). They saw Him raise Lazarus from the dead after 4 days. And what did Jesus say to Mary who cautioned to open the tomb because Lazarus’ body might have been stinking ? “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”- John 11:40. And a moment later, He was calling Lazarus to come forth. No god, no magician, no religion could claim to be able to raise a dead person from the dead like that, after 4 days. Only Jehovah can do that and Jesus did it. The Greek Word used for “the only son” is monogenous, which clearly shows us that there’s a difference between the Son of God who came from heaven and the sons of God He has come to raise from the earth: “born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.” We are blessed as sons of God but we are not the only begotten Son.
Prayer: Father God, I thank you that you sent your Son to this earth to be born in the humblest circumstances and oddest situations. I thank you Lord, Jesus, that you came down here, leaving your eternal glory and made your dwelling on earth and showed us that living for God’s glory is indeed possible, and where we fall short, you were committed to make the ultimate sacrifice, to die for our sins on the cross, so that we may be cleansed and reconciled with the Father. We pray that this Christmas season, you help us to know more about your presence and reach out to those who do not know you so that they can share in our joy. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen !
December 17th, 2020
Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Philippians 2:6-8- NLT
As we continue our “Hail The Incarnate Deity” meditations for this Christmas season, we will be looking at this passage of Philippians 2:6-8 today. The words translated as “though he was God” in the NLT are “who, existing in the form of God” in the American Standard Version and Christian Standard Bible. I like the “existing” translation here because I see the Greek word used is “hyparchon,” which is also used in 1 Corinthians 11:7, where we read: “man ought not to cover His head, since He is the image of God.” It is also used in the passage where Paul confronts Peter: “You are a Jew and yet you live like a Gentile, not a Jew.” -Galatians 2:14. That’s a pretty strong, emphatic, statement of identity. Who would deny that? Jesus was in very nature God and undeniably so. The Word of God that became flesh was “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father,” as we confess in the Nicene Creed. It is this identity that makes the remaining part of the passage powerful.
First, He did not think equality with God as something to cling to. We know that the redemption Christ brought was not something decided overnight at some point after Israel’s failure in the wilderness. It was not like “oops, my bad, man can’t save himself. We gave him the law and he has failed miserably.” In God’s eternal counsel, man’s fall was foreknown, and his sin was provided for. Christ is “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”- Revelation 13:8. So in eternity past, Christ had already decided He would give up His equality with God. He loved us, long before creation. He humbled Himself, long before there was rebellious man to redeem. His glorious throne, endless heavenly worship, and thousands upon thousands of angels that praised and adored Him in heaven were great to have, but they were not things to cling to. That speaks to the self-giving and sacrificial love He has for us as far more compelling to Him than His own status. He has never wanted to have a glory He did not share. When he had accomplished His mission, he prays: “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began”- John 17:5, to return to the glory of God and equality with God He had relinquished for a few years on earth.
Second, He gave up His divine privileges, took the form of a servant, and was born as a human being. We saw the demeaning circumstances of His birth in an animal stable. Then, just when he was still a baby, a jealous king felt threatened and wanted to get him killed in infancy. We read in Matthew 2:13: “An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” Spending his childhood in a foreign country as a refugee, running for dear life. He was not an economic immigrant, trying to pursue “the Egyptian dream.” He did not go to Egypt because He wanted to, He went there because He was forced to flee. Also, He was not an ambassador, representing the government of His country. That would have been an honor. He was a poor refugee. These are not the kind of things people generally aspire to be. Then as He grew up and returned to Israel, He was subjected to the same limitations of man. At the beginning of His ministry, “He was hungry.”- Matthew 4:2. One could say, well, that was a self-imposed fast. Again, He was “hungry.”- Matthew 21:18. So hungry and disappointed in that fig tree, that it had to be cursed dry. Once in Samaria, he was weary and tired from walking a long distance ministering (John 4:6). Another time, he was denied entry into Samaria because of political rivalries between that city and Jerusalem (Luke 9:52-53). What about what He says a few verses after that, answering someone who wanted to be a disciple: “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” -Luke 9:58. What about the time people in his village did not like His sermon and tried to throw him off a cliff? (Luke 4:29). It’s not like He quickly grew wings and flew away from them. He stood there with all the emotions we can imagine He was feeling. Even before He died, He had the option of requesting hundreds of thousands of angels to demolish his attackers, and He did not do that because His death was for the redemption of the world (Matthew 26:53).Notice in that verse that Jesus did not say, he could have summoned or commanded angels. He said that He would have requested. Even if he wanted to be delivered, He had entirely submitted himself to a plan of dependence upon the Father. In the end, He accepted to die on the cross.
Third, He served God and man. He said: ”For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”- John 6:38. Serving the Father, meant only to follow the Father’s will. Serving man, He demonstrated His love to the very end. He taught, fed, protected, provided, cared, healed, encouraged, washed feet, and did many other things in the service of man. This is our God, the servant king!
Prayer: Father God, I thank you that you sent your Son to show us the way to you. Lord Jesus, I thank you for all that you have done for our salvation. Your teachings are amazing but your death on the cross is breathtaking. Thank you for washing our sins in your precious blood. Father , we pray that you help us grow in humility like your Son and selflessly serve those around us, teaching them about your Kingdom, healing those who are sick, and helping those in need. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
December 18th, 2020
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9
In this fourth meditation of our “Hail The Incarnate Deity” theme for the Christmas season, we will be looking at the 2 Corinthians 8:9 verse.
The context of the passage as we read in 2 Corinthians 8:7 is that Paul is encouraging believers in Corinth to be generous. “But since you excel in everything–in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you –see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” In a way, this speaks to our modern concept of Christmas. Giving is not in short supply during the Christmas season. Christians and non-Christians alike lavish gifts to their friends, families, and the less privileged. It is the “Christmas spirit.”
The way the verse of 2 Corinthians 8:9 is written should remind us of the passage of Philippians 2:6-8 we read yesterday. We saw that “though He was God” in that passage and here we see “though He was rich.” We have seen quite a lot about the limitations and deprivations that Christ had to accept in becoming a man. We saw Him as a refugee baby. We saw Him hungry. We saw Him tired after long ministry journeys on foot. We saw Him saying that the foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of man had no place to lay His head. We saw how in His human life on earth he was far from being rich. So what wealth is Paul talking about in 2 Corinthians 8:9? These are His pre-incarnation riches. There’s no doubt that God is rich and Christ was exceedingly rich. Though we could say “God is rich in mercy.“- Ephesians 2:4 and that would be true, the 2 Corinthians 8 chapter is pointing us to something more. Scriptures like Psalms 50:9-10: “I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills,” and “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof”- Psalms 24:1, and “The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty”- Haggai 2:8, all these tell us about divine riches. From a material point of view, God is exceedingly rich because everything in the world is owned by Him. But these are visible things.
There are also invisible things that God possesses. For example, we know that in Christ are hidden “All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”- Colossians 2:3. The “sophia” used in Colossians 2:3 is not limited to spiritual wisdom in terms of getting saved (1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Timothy 3:15) but also wisdom in a practical sense of daily work, employment, innovation, business, and life (Ephesians 5:15-16; James 1:5; Proverbs 24:3-4; Proverbs 8:21; Proverbs 21:20; 2 Thessalonians 3:11). In Christ are hidden both the wisdom for eternal salvation and practical living on earth. This should be easy to understand in the age of Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Tesla, and Gilead Sciences. Nearly every invention that has produced billions of dollars in wealth has not started as a material product. It started as “knowledge or wisdom,” and then was converted into monetary yield as those ideas changed the way people did their businesses and life on earth. But this is still how wealth is perceived on earth. There’s even much more invisible wealth than what is hidden in Wisdom. After all, Jesus encouraged us: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”- Matthew 6:19-20 and He promised us “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”- John 14:2. These are mansions in heaven, so we cannot compare their values as real estate properties in Southern California or Manhattan. Where will Jesus get mansions for more than 2 billions of people who have believed in Him, if we count those who are alive today and those who have passed into glory the last 2000 years? Because He is rich. So, Christ was and is indeed wealthy.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ means that He had to give up all that. It is what we read yesterday in Philippians 2:7 : “but emptied himself.” The Greek word used there is “Ekenosen,” and it means to deprive of content, to abase, to make empty. Christ emptied Himself of all His divine glory in order to redeem man. If you have a cup of water and you pour water in a sink to empty the cup, all the water will go into the sink. God’s plan for man has been to pour blessing “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in.” – Malachi 3:10 and “Blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”- Ephesians 1:3 and – “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.“- Acts 2:17
Throughout history, there have been different concepts of answering Christ’s call. There are people like Francis of Assisi who felt that their calling to follow Christ would mean to give up everything like Christ and live in poverty like Him. There are multitude of others who have done differently. The calling of God does not require that all people should follow the same path, rather that they should follow the path God has charted for them ( 1 Corinthians 7:20). What matters is becoming disciples and following Him. This promise that Christ gave to His followers applies to all: “’ Truly I tell you,’ Jesus replied, ‘no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields–along with persecutions–and in the age to come eternal life.’ ”- Mark 10:29-30. Everything that disciples leave for Christ is returned a hundredfold in this present age and in the age to come they are rewarded eternal life. Those are the riches Christ has come to give us.
Prayer: Father God, I thank you that you sent your Son as a weak human being so that through His poverty we may have access to your glorious riches. Jesus, we are grateful for all you have done for our salvation and for the mansions in glory that you have prepared for us. This Christmas season, we pray that you help us to appreciate and understand more fully all the blessings and riches you have brought to us so that we can be a testimony of all that your heart has desired to give to the world. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen !
December 19th, 2020
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14
This verse is quoted in Matthew 1:23 as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Clearly, the prophecy that prophet Isaiah gave to king Ahaz had a dual fulfillment. The word “Almah” used in the Hebrew Bible does not necessarily mean virgin in the sense we understand it in the English language, which makes the dual fulfillment easy to understand as any young woman in Isaiah’s days could have had such a child as a sign for the prophetic word that was given to Ahaz.
The context was that Judah had been attacked by an alliance of 2 nations, Israel and Syria, as king Pekah of Israel and king Rezin of Aram-Damascus had joined forces to attack Jerusalem. God sent prophet Isaiah to reassure Ahaz, who is otherwise not a very notable king. His reign is detailed in 2 Kings 16, where we read:“Unlike David his father,he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God. He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.”- 2 Kings 16:2-3. So why is Jehovah going out of His way to send Isaiah to give an encouraging word to this abhorrent king as we read in the verses that precede Verse 14 in that Chapter of Isaiah 7? Today, if someone did what Isaiah did, I am almost certain he would be branded an ugly name. Ahaz was not the kind of king you would want to give an encouraging prophetic word.
My impression on why this prophecy was given is because of 3 reasons:
The first reason is because of the covenant God had with the house of David. God’s character stood fast even in the midst of unfaithfulness in the house of David. Sure, even David was not perfect, but he is always taken as the standard when the prophets compare how his descendants lived and reigned and how David lived and reigned. God remained faithful to his descendants who were not as faithful to Him. 1 Samuel 12:22 says: “For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own,” and Psalms 94:14 adds: “For the LORD will not forsake His people; He will never abandon His heritage.” God was determined to remain faithful even in the midst of Judah’s unfaithfulness. The sake of God’s own name is always a safe anchor when men have no good works to speak of.
The second reason is because of the boasting of Syria and Israel against Jerusalem. We read their plans in Isaiah 7:6 as written: “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.” This is when the Lord gives His own assurances in Isaiah 7:7 as we read: “Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “‘It will not take place, it will not happen.” Whenever God’s people were provoked and those who attacked were boastful or belittled the God of Israel, the Lord seemed to make it His business to frustrate the enemies of His people (1 Kings 20: 23-29). This was not always the case when Judah was the one doing the attacking and the boasting, especially when provoking their brothers in Samaria (2 Kings 14:8-12). So, somehow, since Judah was attacked in this passage of Isaiah and those who attacked were boastful, God decided to defend Ahaz despite his unworthiness.
The third reason is because the prophecy had a distant application as we read in Matthew 1:23 concerning the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. In that fulfilment, Mary is a true virgin, and the conception of Jesus occurs without human involvement by the power of the Holy Spirit. Somehow the prior applications of the prophecy in Isaiah in the days of Ahaz seem to carry a Gospel meaning for the fulfilment of that prophecy in the birth of Jesus. Our Lord is indeed God with us, despite our unworthiness. We may not have sacrificed our children to Molech like Ahaz and yet each sin “is exceedingly sinful.”- Romans 7:13 as it offends the heart of God and rebels against the most tender divine love. Little sins would have been enough to get Christ crucified. God’s holiness demands that. We were also fighting against a powerful enemy, the devil, “who prowls around looking for someone to devour”- 1 Peter 5:8, using all sorts of schemes and alliances to try to ruin our souls and destroy God’s work. But “If God be with us, who can be against us?”- Romans 8:31.
Immanuel-God with us-is truly a precious reality we have in Christ. There are no words to express all the grace, blessings, privilege, peace, joy, and trust that name inspires. There’s something about that name!
Prayer: Father God, I thank you that you sent your Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins while we were yet sinners, ugly, rebellious, and abhorrent. We thank you for Immanuel, God with us, assuring your presence with us until the very end of the age. We pray, Lord, that you would continue to reveal to us more and more of your Son so that we can get to know Him, love Him, and serve Him more. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen !
December 21st, 2020
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6
This prophecy in Isaiah is probably one of the most commonly read Christmas Scripture. Along with the other Isaiah 7:14 we saw in our last “Hail The Incarnate Deity” devotional, they are read Christmas after Christmas. If you are blessed to start celebrating Christmas as a kid, you get to memorize them by the time you are an adult . In the Isaiah 7:14 prophecy, we had seen that Christ was the prophesied Immanuel—God with us. That He is “God with us” despite our unworthiness. He is “God with us” amid the flood and battle. If one of the most abhorrent Jewish kings, Ahaz, could have Immanuel prophesied over him, then no one is too far from God’s mercy and grace. Christ has come to reconcile us with God regardless of how deep our miserable condition may be. Apostle Paul can testify that. The thief on the cross can testify that. Saint Augustine can testify that. Throughout history, millions of saints can testify to God’s great grace that transformed them from sinners to saints, no matter how far from God they had been.
“To us a child is born, to us a Son is given” is for all of us. Isaiah 9:1 starts talking about Galilee of the gentiles, the land of darkness. We may go into the details of those starting verses of this chapter during a future Christmas devotional, but let it suffice to point out today that those verses demonstrate the fact that the child was for both the Jews and Gentiles. He was given to all mankind.
“Government will be on his shoulder” reminds us the purpose for which Christ was born. Since man fell from glory in the garden of Eden, man lost government authority on earth as it ought to be. He gave the reins over to Satan who has swayed political empires and kingdoms and wrecked havoc throughout history. All authority in heaven and on earth would be given to this child who is born for us. He would defeat the devil, crush his head, and take the keys of hades and death. He reclaimed the government of earth for man, to be administered in justice and peace. Though the Hebrew word used for government in Isaiah 9:6 is “Hammisrah,” which is different from “Radah/Weyirdu” used in Genesis 1:26, they carry a relatively close meaning of ruling and dominion. Redemption may start with cleansing man from sin, but ultimately, it is about restoring righteous government on earth.
“He will be called Wonderful Counselor.” The Hebrew word for Counselor here is “Yowes” and it means to exchange counsel, to advise, to consult, to deliberate, to devise a plan. It reminds me of David. He liked to take counsel with the Lord every chance he got. “Shall I go up to the Philistines ?”- 2 Samuel 5:19. It’s like He did not want to do anything without involving the Lord and taking His guidance. This is marvelous considering the complex nature of life and the decisions we have to make in which we do need more than human ideas of problem solving. Few years after I got saved, I started serving in ministry, and like many other young ministers, I attended several leadership training seminars. There always seemed to be plenty of advice offered in terms of church growth, team work, and goals setting in those meetings, and yet I also seemed to sense that many of the modern church leadership courses gave the impression that the book of Acts was out-of-mode. It seemed to me that many Christians had resorted to the counsel of management experts in the world rather than the Wonderful Counselor who exploded Jerusalem, Samaria, Antioch, Damascus, Alexandria, Rome, and Macedonia just few years after Pentecost. We do need many advisors and counselors in the church project, but ultimately, we have to make sure that the Wonderful Counselor is in our midst steering the ship and building His church.
“Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” The Son who is born for us is God Himself. His name is above every other name, because who has a greater name than that of Jehovah? He is the Lord God Most High- Jehovah El-Elyon. He is the Son who is the image of the Father. The Father is in Him and He is in the Father. They are in a mysterious, inseparable union. How could we ever say “show us the Father?”- John 14:8. He is also the Prince of Peace. Christ made a rather powerful declaration when He said “my peace I give to you.”- John 14:27. This is interesting because He had warned the disciples “Do not think I have come to bring peace on earth.”- Matthew 10:34. So which is it ? Did He come to bring peace or not? If we pay attention, we will see that John 14:27 and Matthew 10:34 are not the same. In John 14:27, He is addressing the disciples, it is given to them, not to everyone. As a matter of fact, He differentiates His concept of peace and the concept of peace that the world has. “I do not give to you as the world gives.”- John 14:27. The world gives with arms stretched and flexed, capriciously. It’s unpredictable because it has no fixed morals about what is right or wrong. The world calls evil, good; and it calls good, evil. So, of course, that cannot be understood as bringing peace on earth. But why do angels sing “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests”- Luke 2:14? It is because God wishes ill no man. He came to destroy the sin that was destroying man. He loved the world so much that He was willing to step into its mess and bring the peace that is available through the cleansing with His precious blood. For that peace to be real to us, we have to allow Christ to be the ruler of our hearts and lives (Colossians 3:15). We will experience the peace that surpasses understanding available for those who walk in the Spirit (Romans 8:6). It is an internal peace even when there might be outward turbulence. There’s no shadow of turning with Him, so that is the peace that has come to abide for those who are in Christ. It is upto the world to take that offer. World war I and World war II are pretty recent, but world history is marked by many catastrophic wars, that took peace from the earth and killed millions of people. The reason war persists is because this peace through Christ’s blood is solely on His terms. The world still hopes it has an alternative solution to peace. That’s why everlasting peace will not be celebrated on earth until He returns as a victorious king and mighty conqueror—bringing in His millennial kingdom on earth.
Prayer: Father God, I thank you that unto us who were far from you, a Son was born. That unto us who were destitute, a Son was given. Unto us who were confused and direction-less, a Wonderful Counselor was given. Unto us who had impossible problems, a mighty God came to dwell with us. Unto us who needed families, we were given the Everlasting Father. And unto us who were troubled, we were given the peace that surpasses understanding in this prince of peace. We pray, Lord, help us to sanctify and revere Christ as Lord, so that His kingdom will continue to grow within us and be revealed through our consecrated lives. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen !
December 22nd, 2020
Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this- Isaiah 9:7
This verse follows Isaiah 9:6 we saw yesterday in this “Hail The Incarnate Deity” themed Christmas season devotional. We had seen that unto us a child is born and government will be upon His shoulders.
The Hebrew word “Marbeh” translated as “greatness” in NIV is also translated as “increasing” in other versions. It can also mean abundance. The translation has a significant impact on the understanding of the meaning because, if Christ has only a great millennial government that starts after His second coming, then that would be the best word to use. But if His reign has already started after ascending to the Father, then the increasing of His government would be an ongoing thing right now and would culminate into the consummation of the marriage with the bride—the church—and His final establishment of the millennial kingdom on earth. This passage itself does not favor either “greatness” or “increasing” translation and we would have to rely on several other Scriptures to understand the best way to take this.
When Mary went to visit Elizabeth after she had received the prophetic word from angel Gabriel about the birth of Jesus, she sang the song known as Magnificat. In Luke 1:52 she sings: “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.” Mary knew that Jesus was born for greatness and would sit on the throne of His father David as Gabriel had announced that: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.”- Luke 1:32. So, for Mary, this was already a done deal. The child she was carrying was king. The Lord had brought down rulers from their thrones and enthroned His own Son. When she sang “He has brought down rulers,” she used a form of past tense. But Jesus was still in the womb, so we see no realization of His reign at that time. As He grew older, we see him approaching Jerusalem on the day we celebrate as Palms Sunday, sitting on a donkey, and we see people expectantly celebrating his coming kingdom: “The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!“- Matthew 21:9. In the Gospel of John’s account of this event in John 12:13, he records: “They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!” But they were only singing prophetically. He was not the king yet. They might have been wishing to make Him one there and then, but it was not yet to be. When reviewing the charges against Him, Pilate pointedly asks this question: “’Are you the king of the Jews?’ ‘You have said so,’ Jesus replied.”- Luke 23:3. Jesus did not deny that He was king. But He also clarified what His kingdom was and what it was not : “Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.’”- John 18:36. So Jesus was already king but His kingdom was not of this world. Even in His humbled state as a man on earth, standing before trial, He did not shrink from declaring that He was a king. But where was His kingdom from then?
40 days after Jesus rose from the dead, He ascended to heaven before the eyes of His disciples: “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.”- Acts 1:9. As He had commanded the disciples to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit, they did wait, and on the day of Pentecost, Peter preached Christ: “Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.”- Acts 2:33. It is after that verse in Acts 2:34 that we see one of the first New Testament interpretations of Psalms 110:1, where it is written: “ The Lord said to my Lord, ‘sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool.’” Of course, Jesus Himself had once alluded to that Psalm as we see in Matthew 22:41-46. So in this book of Acts sermon, Peter recognized that this was about Jesus. He had ascended to take His throne “from another place.” He was enthroned at the right hand of the Father. Christ was already king. Then that day, 3,000 people were added to the church or as we would say today, 3000 people came into the kingdom. So the kingdom of Christ increased. Few weeks after that, they had exploded to even more thousands. So the kingdom of Christ had increased even more. As of this 21st century, there are over 1 billion Christians in the world, so the kingdom of Christ has continued to increase and expand. Christ had promised: “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”- Matthew 16:18. He has fulfilled that promise and He will continue to do so as He declared: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”- Matthew 24:14. So we are seeing a pattern now. There’s an ever increasing of His government. It has become much bigger than it was 2000 years ago in terms of people brought in but it is still a work in progress that gets better and better, greater and greater. He also has not yet set up His final millennial kingdom on earth.
Puritan theologians have called the current reign of Christ in the church age “the mediatorial kingdom.” He sits on the throne in heaven interceding for the church, which is carrying out the mission He has sent us to do. In this mediatorial reign of Christ, other governments are still operational, and they receive their commissioning from Him (Romans 13:1). However, they are under His rule- as vassals, so to speak (Psalms 82). Everything under the heavens is under His feet as He rules overall and He also doubles as the head of the church (Ephesians 1:22). But only the church acknowledges and expresses what His kingdom looks like: “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”- Romans 14:17. The mediatorial kingdom is typified by the reign of David, so it is a reign through war (1 Kings 5:3; Hebrews 10:13). The millennial kingdom is typified by the reign of Solomon, so it will be a reign of peace (1 Chronicles 22:9; Isaiah 2:4). Just like the first phase of Joseph’s life while he was still with his brothers was a type of the life of Christ on earth. His “brothers” who crucified Him will recognize Him when He returns. In the meantime, the church adorns herself with the full armor of God in order to prevail in Spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:10-18). With that, the kingdom continues to increase in strength just like David’s kingdom was, by “destroying the works of the devil”- 1 John 3:8, until finally He will return and establish His peaceful millennial kingdom. Then, we finally get to rest from war and enjoy everlasting peace. The zeal of the Lord will accomplish this.
Prayer: Father God, I thank you that you sent your Son who taught us about your righteous and peaceful government. We thank you that He is currently interceding for us and you are answering our prayers in these days of Spiritual warfare. We pray, Lord, that you open our eyes to be watchful, so that in our doctrines and in our lives, we will be brought up into the full stature of Christ, unto a perfect man. Lord, we pray that you increase our fire to expand your Kingdom. We eagerly await when our faith shall become sight, and to that end we pray: even so, Come O Lord! In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen!
December 23rd, 2020
So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law. To redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Galatians 4:3-5
The passage that starts from Galatians 3:1 upto Galatians 4:11 deals with bondage/slavery versus freedom, immaturity versus maturity, tutelage versus emancipation, law versus grace, works versus faith. It talks about adoption to sonship and being heirs. While we will be looking at Galatians 4:3-5 only in our “Hail The Incarnate Deity” themed devotional for this Christmas season, it is good to keep in mind the larger context. The Galatians 3-4 passage is a shorter version of what Paul writes in Romans chapters 4 through 8.
The Greek word for “underage” is nepioi, it means children. The word itself is neutral. It can be good or bad, depending on the context. For example, in Luke 10:22 we see “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.” So each time we see “nepios,” it is not necessarily a bad word that means immaturity. There’s a certain childlikeness that God loves. The things that Jesus was praising the Father for at that time was a mission accomplished by the disciples that involved casting out demons. Many scholars or those who would have been considered “adults” of his day, the scribes and Pharisees, would not have been able to do that. So, “nepios” there is a good word. With that being said, in the Galatians 4:3 verse, it is a negative word. It suggests a disadvantaged, disenfranchised, retrograde, regression state. Young children are in a tender age and depending on the influence they have, they can have a good or bad experience. For their own protection, they may have to be taught certain things. Paul discusses how Jews were like such young children before Christ came and how this weakened condition affected them.
We love the stories of how Israel was redeemed from Egypt, taken from slavery into the inheritance of the promised land. But like many other Bible stories, this is figurative. Because the way Paul talks about the law here, it does not sound like an advantage. It’s like they were taken from one slavery under the Egyptians to another slavery under the law of Moses. But not just that, they were also in slavery “under the elemental spiritual forces.” Some versions say “elementary principles of the world.” What does Paul mean by that? He certainly is not using slavery to sin or slavery to the law. He knows those terms and he uses them several times in different parts of his epistles. The Greek word used here is “stoichea” and it means “something orderly in arrangement.” For example, the ABCs of the alphabet could be considered an orderly arrangement. The closest Scripture that Paul writes with a similar meaning is Colossians 2:8 where he states: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” He follows up on this later on in that Chapter in Colossians 2:16-18 by talking about festivals like New Moon, Sabbath, acceptable and unacceptable foods—because, he says, these things were only shadows of things to come. The reality would be found in Christ. This is in line with what Paul further writes in Galatians 4:8-10. Today, we can expand the understanding to include the belief that someone can be a good Christian during the Christmas season or on Easter and a “bad” Christian throughout the rest of the year. That’s not Christianity.
Jesus spent a considerable amount of time in his teachings talking about the irrelevance of rituals. For example, in Matthew 15:11-20, we see a big argument about whether foods or even eating without washing hands can make someone unclean. Do those things make someone lose their salvation? Stand guilty and unrighteous before God? These were the big debates of the day before Christ came. While we may laugh at the trivial, comical, and the shallow nature of such debates today, these were pretty serious topics for them. There are places even today where religious rituals are still held in high esteem. This is why it was a form of bondage that only unemancipated minors could be held hostage to. Considering how Satan loves such spiritual distractions that waste people’s time, translations that use “spiritual forces” rather than “elementary principles” are not that far off.
“But when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.”- That fullness of time coincided with the time Caesar Augustus issued a decree that everyone should be counted in a census. Joseph and Mary, who were engaged at that time, had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-4) . In Google maps it is a 150 km trip, which could probably have taken 5-7 days for a late term pregnant woman to walk such a distance on foot or 3 days if they were travelling on horses. People who might be in similar circumstances today may say “this is such a bad timing.” Not for Joseph and Mary. Not for God and His beloved Son. We have to come to a realization that what often may seem to be inconvenient circumstances could actually be God’s vehicle to advance His agenda. Not only Jesus was born under the law of Moses, he was also born under the rules of Caesar. He would later teach “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and render to God the things that are God’s”- Matthew 22:21. Jesus lived in obedience to the law of God and also obeyed the laws of the land, as long as they did not infringe on God’s commandments. So in the fullness of time, He was born under these laws. The coming of age of God’s people was set in God’s eternal counsel. The Word became flesh through the womb of a Jewish woman at the time the Father had decreed. The emperor’s decree just so happened to coincide with God’s schedule. Charles Wesley may write in his hymn “Late in time behold Him come,” and though that may be true relative to history, it was the right time as God is never late. In keeping with the Galatians 4 passage interpretation, this was the time appointed of the Father for the child to receive inheritance. As far as we are concerned, 2000 years after Christ came, that fullness of time is long gone, “the night is nearly over, the day is almost here.”- Romans 13:12.
“To redeem those under the law that we might receive adoption to sonship.” The purpose for which God’s Son was born into the world involves many things. He was born for government. He was born to destroy the works of the devil. He was born to redeem those under the law. His kingdom frees us from elemental traditions, religious rituals, and spiritual forces so that we may have a right relationship with God as His born again sons. Our new birth that only the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ could have made possible, makes us new creations and restores our previously lost ability to have communion with the Father. It prepares us for spiritual maturity to receive the promises for the seed of Abraham that are ours in this present age and our eternal inheritance in the age to come.
Prayer: Father God, I thank you that in the fullness of time you sent your Son to be born of virgin Mary and lived an exemplary life obeying your law in a family that had been obeying Caesar’s decrees. Lord, I pray that you help us to render unto you what belongs to you and to render unto civil governments what belongs to those. As the night is nearly passed and our salvation is closer than when we first believed, I pray that you give us the wisdom to redeem the time so that we can live in a way that will glorify you and share this message of liberty with those who are still under bondage. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen !
December 24th, 2020
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11
After Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem for the census, she gave birth to Jesus. They had traveled from Nazareth because of the decree issued by Caesar Augustus. “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born”- Luke 2:6. This was a fulfillment of the Micah 5 prophecy. It’s interesting because that Micah prophecy was used by Herod’s court to determine where exactly Jesus was supposed to be born (Matthew 2:4-8). They could not have looked the whole country. They needed to narrow down their search. This is where the Magi had travelled and where the star had stopped. Some say, the Magi could have taken a year or so to arrive, but if Joseph and Mary had left their place of residence in Nazareth to go to Bethlehem solely for the census, would they have been there for an entire year or 2 years? So, the edict issued by Caesar Augustus for the census was somehow pushing the fulfillment of that Micah prophecy. We may go through the details of that prophecy in a future Christmas season devotional, but for now we can take note of how this otherwise inconvenient decree of Caesar actually pushed the holy family to the finish line of God’s eternal plan.
After Jesus was born, “angels from the realms of glory” appeared to shepherds who lived out in the fields. These weren’t people trained in theology of their day. They weren’t Scribes and Pharisees. They were not in a high class either, like regional merchants doing big business across the Middle East. They were just poor shepherds who were doing the regular job of watching their flocks “in fields where they laid.” We have come to associate such angelic visitations with times spent in prayer, evangelism, and missions, perhaps connecting it with what we see in the book of Acts—and to a great extent even here that’s what it is about. Because the angels were bringing “Good News,” only at that time it wasn’t widely spread and there weren’t many people who knew it. So, an angelic visitation took place in an unlikely place for those with hearts that were receptive. “God with us” does not have a specification of where we have to be to experience His presence. Shopping mall, farm, at work, at church, watching flocks, driving a car, learning Mathematics, in a senator’s office, in a head of government’s house, in an airport, bus station, inside a train, in restaurants, libraries, low-income housing, homeless shelter, hospitals—all of these places God is with us. The shepherds were among the first to experience that reality. We do not need to agonize to have God’s presence. God is with us all the time wherever we are. We may seek Him to come closer to Him and be more intimately aware of His will and presence in our lives, but He is already with us.
The angel’s message was:
“Do not be afraid, I bring you Good News that will cause great joy for all the people.”- Mary had heard about the same “do not be afraid”- Luke 1:30 from Gabriel. This is usually a message we actually see when God comes to reassure that He is with us. When an angel appeared to Gideon in the Old Testament he also said “do not be afraid.”- Judges 6:23. Gideon was initially shocked by the visitation and inquisitive: “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about.”- Judges 6:13. In Gideon’s days they had been impoverished by the Midianites who attacked from time to time and took away their possessions. They had been crying out to the Lord because of that (Judges 6:7). There are certain similarities with the time of the birth of Jesus. They were under the Roman empire, asked to pay taxes, ordered to be registered in a census, and their identity had been severely attacked in the previous 200 years that had passed. Even though the Jewish-Roman war did not take place until 66 AD, Judas of Gamala led a political resistance known as “The Fourth Philosophy” during this time of the census of Quirinius. Many devout Jews had been crying out to the Lord for deliverance and God had been revealing Himself to them (Luke 2:25-26). Some with faltering faith could have been like Gideon and asked: “If God is with us, why did all of this happen?” When God comes to visit us with Good News, He comes with assurances, peace, and joy. Considering the overwhelming pattern of this in Scripture, I would be in doubt, and even suspicious, where those 3 things are not found in a message that God is with us. On the other hand, if God leaves a people, if the glory has departed, if churches are like those we read in Revelation chapter 2-3, then people can expect the opposite.
What did Jesus bring that would cause “great joy?” This reminds me of the time Philip went to preach in Samaria: “There was great joy in the city.”- Acts 8:8. The paralyzed had walked, the blind had seen, those who were deaf had been able to hear, and demons that tormented many people had been cast out. Thousands of people had been gloriously saved and came into the kingdom. What was there not to rejoice about? There’s great joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7) and what brings heaven so much joy is bound to bring joy to man on earth. The Good News of eternal life, of not having to look at death as the end of all things, but rather a transition to even better place in glory should cause all of us great joy. The temporal life becomes more meaningful inasmuch as it is about preparing for that eternal life. That makes even the greatest sufferings on earth for 5-50 years infinitesimal compared to the infinite years of heaven’s joy and glory. The shepherds probably may not have grasped all of this that very moment, but they would eventually find out. What might have been a silent night up to that moment suddenly turned into a merry and curious night.
“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Messiah, the Lord.” I have heard teachings that said that Jesus did not become the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one, until John the Baptist baptized him and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in a form of a dove. Because the Holy Spirit anoints us to do something and only after baptism was Jesus ready to fulfill His mission. They say that is the time He became Christ, the Anointed One. I understand the intent of such teachings is to tell people the importance of the Holy Spirit; but clearly, that’s an error, since the angels are calling Jesus the Messiah immediately after birth. Just like they are calling Him the Savior before He is crucified and Lord before He is risen. The Word of God had become flesh and He had finally been laid in a manger. What a wonder He is !
Prayer: Father God, we thank you for this message of Good News and great joy to us. We thank you for giving us your Son, in whom we have everlasting life. We thank you Lord Jesus, for being our Teacher, our Healer, and our Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. We thank you for being our Good Lord, reigning over all our affairs in a such perfect way. This Christmas season, we pray that our eyes may be opened to your wonders anew and be captivated by this great love you have loved us. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray. Amen!
December 25th, 2020
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
This is perhaps the most famous Bible verse. Every Christian I know can quote this verse and everyone who is not able to do so, should try to learn that this Christmas. Even non-christians may know it because of hearing it quoted so many times when Christians are doing outreach or missions in one way or another. We will look at this verse in this final “Hail The Incarnate Deity” for this year’s Christmas season devotional.
“For God so loved the world.” This is our Father God who loved the world. Often God’s holiness and judgments for sin can seem to make us forget God’s great love. Stories like the flood in the days of Noah, the fire and brimstone falling on Sodom and Gomorrah, Egypt wiped out at the Red Sea, Israel perishing in the wilderness with Moses unable to enter Canaan, the fall of Samaria in the Northern kingdom of Israel, the fall of Jerusalem after Nebuchadnezzar’s siege and subsequent captivity in Babylon, the list is long. God hates sin. God is angry at sin. God punishes sin. We know this pretty well. But this is not the end of the story. It is certainly something we have to keep in mind. The fall of man has made this a necessity to be continuously aware of. But we have “Good News” for a reason. The Good News is that despite all of this, God loves us. God communicated that love to us. God made a way for that love to save us from the coming wrath, His final destruction of all that is rebellious against His plan for man. God sent His son as our Savior to save us from that eternal doom. “The punishment for our sin was upon Him.”- Isaiah 53:5. Glory to God! Gloria in exelcis Deo!
For God so loved the world introduces the greatness of that love. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”- John 15:13. What are you willing to do for your friends? What about strangers? Jesus tells of an interesting story of a friend knocking at the door at midnight when a family is sleeping (Luke 11:5-13). That friend does not want to be disturbed. Waking up at night is a little inconvenience but the price is not that costly, especially for a friend. But that man did not want to wake up until the friend became more and more importunate. It’s only after persistence and what seemed to be rude banging on the door that he wakes up to help his friend. From a human point of view, our love falls short. In the light of this, it’s amazing to see what God did for His friends. For God so loved the world, that He did not think it was inconvenient to leave His throne above and come down to the earth—not with footsteps in the cool of the night—to see if the men He had created had found out they were naked—but to be born among them like a baby—to share in their daily struggle, work as a carpenter, teach them the ways to His kingdom face to face, eat bread and fish with them, heal many who were sick, raise others from the dead, endure insult, attacks, and betrayals—and finally stretch His arms on the cross as those people he came to visit hit nails in His arms. The excruciating pain of each hammer, the blood flowing from hands to the armpits, the bitter vinegar in the mouth, the crown of thorns to mock his royal status, and finally die like a criminal in the eyes of the whole world. That is the price of love in God’s eyes. For God so loved the world that He sent Jesus to do all of this. He was like “I have indeed seen their misery”—Exodus 3:7 but this time I am no sending Moses. I am not sending Gideon. I am not sending David. I am coming down myself.
Christmas is a beginning of a journey. The Son of God becomes the Son of Man. It starts cold, smelly, and poor—travels through preaching, healing, and fellowship—accompanied by resistance, persecution, and snares—and ends with humiliation, a kangaroo court, and execution. For God so loved the world that He gave His most precious son to endure all of this in order to save the world from itself. In order save hopeless man who could not have been able to return to God no matter how much he tried to do so. In order to give a brand new life to those who would leave their old lives behind and follow Him. In order to put an end to the tragedy of death once and for all and bring in immortality for those who would believe in His death and resurrection. This is what we celebrate on Christmas. This is the love of God that we see in Jesus as a baby, as a teacher, as a dying Savior, and as a Risen King. Hail The Incarnate Deity!
Prayer: Father God, we thank you for loving us so much that you gave us your Son Jesus to come and live on this earth and know our struggle, share our problems, and finally die for our sins on the cross. We are debtors and we would never be able to repay that kindness. We pray, Father, that you give us the strength to do as much as we can to love you back and live for your glory. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen !